Locking type safety pin



E. A. LITTLE LOCKING TYPE SAFETY PIN Dec; 10, 1968 Filed March 2, 1967INVENTOR. EDWARD A. LITTLE W FIG. 2

ATTORNEYS 3,414,946 LOCKING TYPE SAFETY PIN Edward A. Little, Wolcott,Conn., assignor to The Risdon Manufacturing Company, Naugatuch, Conn., acorporation of Connecticut Filed Mar. 2, 1967, Ser. No. 620,166 2Claims. (Cl. 24-158) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A safety pin of theguard-locking type in which the point guard is slidable axially of thelegs of the pin from an inner locking position to an outer unlockedposition, and wherein provision is made for frictional resistance tosliding movement of the guard to insure against inadvertent movement ofit to the unlocked position.

The present invention is directed to a safety pin construction, and moreparticularly to a safety pin incorporating a point shield or guard whichis movable to and from a locked position.

Locking type safety pins of various designs have long been known. Forthe most part, however, they are characterized either by a rathercomplicated design and hence are expensive to manufacture or else thedesign is insufficient to provide the desired degree of lockingassurance.

It is a principal purpose of the present invention accordingly toprovide a safety pin which gives, first of all, assurance of securelocking in the safe position to prevent inadvertent release of thepointed leg; and concomitantly with such improved locking provisionprovides a design of simple construction that is readily massmanufactured whereby the pin is competitive with the common non-lockingtype of safety pin.

The pin of the present invention is intended primarily for use as adiaper pin but is obviously useful wherever a safety pin having assuredlocking against accidental release of the point is important.

The invention is illustrated by the embodiment shown in the accompanyingdrawings and described in detail hereinafter. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view of the head portion of a safety pinembodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of FIG. 1 looking in thedirection of the arrows; and

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view on line 33 of FIG. 2, partsbeing broken away for clarity of illustration.

Safety pin comprises a resilient stainless steel wire portion or thelike constituting a front leg 12 and a back leg 14 which are integrallyjoined by a bight or loop 16 adapted to keep the two legs in the sameplane but to urge them out of parallelism. Safety pin 10 is alsoprovided with a single head member 18 which, in the specificallyillustrated modification, is formed of stiff molded plastic. As will beexplained in more detail presently, head 18 is carried by back leg 14and is axially slidable on that leg between an inner position, which isillustrated in FIG. 1, and an outer position as shown in solid line inFIG. 3.

The free end of back leg 14 is curled back upon itself in the plane ofthe legs to form a return bend, such as loop or U 20. Head 18 is moldedto provide a first socket means 22 within which U 20 is received with aclose sliding fit. The open leg of 'U has a tendency to spring open to alimited extent and this produces additional frictional engagement of theparts yieldably restraining axial movement of head 18 relative to thelegs of the pin.

In the embodiment shown, partition 23 is stepped downwardly, as at 24.Step 24 provides an abutment 28 against which the open leg 15 of the Ucomes in contact when United States Patent 0 ice the head is in itsouter position, as shown in solid line i1 FIG. 3. This restrains thehead normally against disengage ment from leg 14 but, with theresiliency or spring actioi afforded by U 20, sufficient flexing ispermitted during initial assembly of the head 18 on the pin to allow thiopen leg 15 of the U to be forced over abutment 28 tr arrive at aposition opposite step 24 without breaking o distorting the head.

Further inward sliding movement of head 18 against tht frictionalpressure exerted by the legs of the U on the op posite side walls ofsocket 22 causes the head to assume it alternate or looking position onstep 24 as seen in FIG. and in dotted line representation in FIG. 2.

Leg 12, the front leg, is pointed in the usual manner am is adapted tobe received in another socket portion 30 o the head 18. To permit entryand egress of the point, beta 18 is provided with an access notch 32 ina side wall which notch opens onto socket 30. Notch 32 has an axiaextent, as seen in FIG. 1, which is substantially less that the fulldepth of the socket and is so designed that, who] head 18 is located atits inner (locked) position as see: in FIG. 1, the pointed leg 12 maynot be entered into 0 released from socket 30 laterally thereof, eventhough fron leg 12 is compressed toward rear leg 14 to the dotted linposition shown in FIG. 1. Thus the safety pin is effectivel lockedagainst accidental release of the pin.

Upon axially sliding head 18 outwardly relative to th legs of the pin,to the solid line position shown in FIG 3, the pointed tip of front leg12 will then just clear thr upper end of access notch 32 so that thepoint may b1 laterally withdrawn from socket 30' in the usual mannerSimilarly, of course, the pointed tip of leg 12 may b entered intosocket 30 through access 32 when head18 i in the aforesaid outerposition. The pin is then locket simply by sliding head 18 inwardlyrelative to the legs 0 the pin to resume the position shown in FIG. 1.

As here illustrated, head 18 is formed with a side aper ture 34coincident with step 24 in socket 22. While thi. aperture 34 is usedprimarily for simplification of tilt molding of the recessed step 24, itserves a further usefu purpose in providing a visual indication to theuser tha the pin is either in its locked or unlocked condition.

The invention is capable of various other modification; than thatspecifically here illustrated. Thus the bent em or rear leg 14 mayassume specifically different configura tions other than the U hereshown. For example, thl short leg 15 may be bent further toward the backleg t( form a substantially closed loop or eye. In such cast step 24 maybe provided with an intermediate deten bump of cam in partition 23separating the areas contactet by the bent end of leg 14 in therespective looked ant unlocked positions of the head of the pin tosupplemen the frictional resistance to movement of the head from oneposition to the other.

As an added safety precaution, it may be desirable a times to form thehead 18 with a guard flange 36 i1 socket 30, as illustrated in FIGS. 2and 3, which run; lengthwise of the socket immediately adjacent theoute. edge of access notch 32. In order to release the pointed le; 12 ofthe pin, it is then necessary not only to compres: the two legs togetherbut to twist them slightly so as it cause leg 12 to pass over the guardflange 36 before being brought into registry with access notch 32.

While head 18 is illustrated as formed of Il'lOldfit plastic, it will beapparent that a formed metal equivalen could be substituted.

These and other modifications will be obvious to thos skilled in the artand the following claims are accordingl: intended to cover suchmodifications which are the lega equivalents of the embodiment shown anddescribed.

What is claimed is:

1. A safety pin of resilient wire having a relativel itationary back legand a relatively movable front leg,

(a) said legs being connected at one end by an integral bight forming aspring normally urging said front leg away from said back leg;

(b) said front leg being pointed at its free end,

(0) said back leg having a return bend at its free end,

(d) a point-shielding head having first socket means slidably receivingsaid bent free end of the rear leg, the bend in said rear leg beingresilient and producing frictional engagement with the wall of saidsocket means to yieldably resist movement of said head axially of saidleg;

(e) said head also having other socket means for receiving and shieldingthe point of said front leg, said other socket means including a lateralaccess in a wall of said head for the side entry or egress of said pointwhen the front leg is compressed toward the rear leg and said head is inits outer position on the rear leg, said access being of insufficientaxial extent to permit entry or egress of said point when the head is inits inner position on the rear leg, said sockets being arranged inside-by-side relationship with a common wall therebetween provided witha step in the surface thereof contacted by the return References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,451,478 4/1923 Smith et al. 24158 2,351,5696/1944 White 24-156 3,179,995 4/1965 Hawk 24158 2,353,560 7/1944 Harper24156 FOREIGN PATENTS 130,109 1/ 1902 Germany.

462,757 7/ 1928 Germany.

597,959 2/ 1948 Great Britain.

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner.

